Abstract
The ancient impact record of the terrestrial-type planets Mercury, Mars, earth’s moon, and of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn is discussed on the basis of data from spacecraft imagery. The mass-velocity distribution of the impactors seems to have been the same or very similar in the inner part of the solar system and probably also at Jupiter and Saturn. Ancient impact rates appear to have been comparable. The time dependence of the impact rate in the earth-moon system and by analogy at the other terrestrial-type planets is in accordance with a smooth rapid decay during the first 1000 million years of solar system history rather than with a peak in impact rate (cataclysm) at 4000 million years ago. From the reconstruction of the martian impact chronology, Mars appears to have been geologically active in its early times essentially.
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© 1982 D. Reidel Publishing Company
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Neukum, G. (1982). Solar System Cratering Chronology and Dating of the Surface Structures of the Terrestrial-Type Planets. In: Coradini, A., Fulchignoni, M. (eds) The Comparative Study of the Planets. NATO Advanced Study Institutes Series, vol 85. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7810-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7810-2_9
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